The document discusses how insecure home automation systems can be hacked by analyzing the communication protocols and accessing devices remotely. It uses a hypothetical example of a hacker gaining control of all devices in hotel rooms by understanding the KNX protocol used and sending commands through unsecured IP connections. Better security practices like mutual authentication for device communication are suggested to prevent such attacks.
1. LEARN HOW TO CONTROL EVERY ROOM AT A
LUXURY HOTEL REMOTELY: THE DANGERS OF
INSECURE HOME AUTOMATION DEPLOYMENT
Jesus Molina
@verifythentrust
security@nomeames.com
3. The Italian Job
• Seth Green takes control of all
kind of public transit so the
mini-coopers can run free
• “all I did was come up with
my own... kick ass algorithm
to sneak in, and now we own
the place”
4. Jurassic Park
• Electric fences go off,
dinosaurs escape wrecking
havoc. But the hacker teen
fixes it later
• “It’s a UNIX system”
5. Hack Hard
• Cheap remake of Die Hard,
but the hero is a hacker
defeating the terrorists by
taking over control of every
appliance in a Chinese
luxury hotel
• “It’s a KNX system! Let me
google this”
10. Hollywood movies vs. Art House
movies
• In Hollywood movies the hacker does all the
job in a mere 5 sequences
• In art house movies it takes a little longer.
12. Step1: Reckon
• The hero needs to understand the protocol. Using
ultra high tech technology intercepts communication
between iPad and devices
13. Step 2: Reverse Engineer the protocol
• What is this?
• UDP packets flying left and right
• No idea, but connects to port 3671
14. Step 2: Reverse Engineer the protocol
• Use advanced machine learning techniques to
discover the communication protocol
15. KNX INTERLUDE
This is the part with frames of the hero reading his Kindle and
researching the internets
16. Step 2: Reverse Engineer the protocol
• KNX! And a fancy plugin for wireshark
• So what is KNX?
• According to their webpage, KNX is “the world´s only
open Standard for the control in both commercial
and residential buildings". It goes on by saying “KNX
is therefore future proof”
• This communication protocol is KNX/IP, or KNX over
IP
18. /* TUNNELLING_REQUEST */
/* Header (6 Bytes) */
treq[0] = 0x06; /* 06 - Header Length */
treq[1] = 0x10; /* 10 - KNXnet version (1.0) */
treq[2] = 0x04; /* 04 - hi-byte Service type descriptor (TUNNELLING_REQUEST) */
treq[3] = 0x20; /* 20 - lo-byte Service type descriptor (TUNNELLING_REQUEST) */
treq[4] = 0x00; /* 00 - hi-byte total length */
treq[5] = 0x15; /* 15 - lo-byte total lengt 21 bytes */
/* Connection Header (4 Bytes) */
treq[6] = 0x04; /* 04 - Structure length */
treq[7] = iChannelID & 0xff; /* given channel id */
treq[8] = 0x00; /* sequence counter, zero if you send one tunnelling request only at
this session, otherwise count ++ */
treq[9] = 0x00; /* 00 - Reserved */
/* cEMI-Frame (11 Bytes) */
treq[10] = 0x11; /* message code, 11: Data Service transmitting */
treq[11] = 0x00; /* add. info length ( bytes) */
treq[12] = 0xbc; /* control byte */
treq[13] = 0xe0; /* DRL byte */
treq[14] = 0x00; /* hi-byte source individual address */
treq[15] = 0x00; /* lo-byte source (replace throw IP-Gateway) */
treq[16] = (destaddr >> 8) & 0xff; /* hi-byte destination address (20: group address)
4/0/0: (4*2048) + (0*256) + (0*1) = 8192 = 20 00 */
treq[17] = destaddr & 0xff; /* lo-Byte destination */
treq[18] = 0x01; /* 01 data byte following */
treq[19] = 0x00; /* tpdu */
treq[20] = 0x81; /* 81: switch on, 80: off */
A cEMI frame* to make a lightbulb go
*According to http://www.eb-systeme.de/
Address
Action
19. KNX/IP Network
• Addresses are in the format A/B/C
• Every room accessed by an IP address
• Every room has a unique KNX subnet A/B
• The last digit (C) is the appliance address,
identical for each room
• If room 7773 is on subnet 1/5 and the TV
adress is 30, the you need to send to addres
1/5/30
23. Step 3: Get the attack ingredients
• An attacker only needs four elements
• A tool to send the KNX/IP frames
– Code the protocol or check the internet: eibd
• A library of IP addresses for each KNX/IP router and
corresponding room number
– Change rooms or listen to other rooms
• A library of KNX addresses for each room and for
every device in the room
– Press each button on the iPad app
• A library of actions and action payload for each
device
– Press each button on the iPad app
24. Step 3: Get the attack ingredients
• Look for patterns using cutting edge technology
25. Step 3: Get the attack ingredients
• The KNX/IP addresses of every room were simple to
guess. The KNX subnets for the rooms where simple
too
• The actions and device address in each room were
identical
• The DND lights and make up room light had another
address space dedicated to them in each floor
26. Step 4: Perform the attack
Switching on every TV in the hotel
For each [KNX_room, IP]
For each [KNX_item,TV_action,TV_payload]
KNXtunnel KNX_room/KNX_item TV_action TV_payload IP&
DONE – be happy about it
27. Step 5: External Attack
• You said “Remotely”
• Attacker must be on the hotel network (Open)
• Several options
– A “repeater” inside or outside the hotel: Big
antenna and a bridge
– iPad trojan: Use the iPad to connect to the
internet periodically
28. Mitigation and Solutions
• iPad, network and KNX do not provide any security
alternatives
• A possible solution is to create a tunnel between
iPad and router with mutual authentication
• KNX released recently a new set of specification, but
the closed nature of the protocol make it impossible
to check it (for me)
29. Aftermath
• The hotel took the system off-line
• Security researchers, leaders in the automation
market and members of the hotel industry need to
start conversations to provide guest with reasonable
protection standards while enjoying home
automation
30. HARD HACK II
• Guess where it will be located? Hint: The director like
the Die Hard series